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Winner's Tutorial from Elegance and Elephants

Today we have Heidi sharing her vest tutorial from her winning look this week. I have this sneaking suspicion that we are going to be seeing lots of cute little boys wearing five-button vests after today. Isn't it just darling?

Take it away Heidi.....

Hello PR&P readers! I'm so excited to be here this morning sharing this tutorial with you. Could you believe all the incredible outfits submitted for Fashion Icon week?! What an awesome theme...I could see there was a lot of passion behind the designers and Flickr group's looks. I'm sure all the Fashion Icons would be proud...wouldn't it be so cool if they actually saw them!?

Anyway, I'm going to show you how I made the Johnny vest.

First of all, you'll need three types of fabric for the front, back, and lining. See the hideously frayed shorts my husband used to wear (don't ask me how that happened...I have no idea!)? Yeah, that's what I used for the back of the vest, and there's the houndstooth and patterned red for the front & lining.

To trace the pattern pieces, I used a vest I had previously made, although you could use a shirt as well. Notice how I changed the shape of the bottom.

The pieces:

Sew the back and back lining together at the centre.

Then sew the back to the front at the sides.

Repeat these steps with your lining.

Here's how to make the faux welt pockets (that are already done on the pic above).

As you can see, I added interfacing to the pockets. Not entirely necessary, so may want to skip that step. If you're using a striped pattern, like I did, don't forget to line up them up with the fabric on the front.

Here are the ties in the back. I just sewed some long, thin rectangles right sides together, flipped them right side out, then pressed and topstitched them, leaving on end open. Attach them by folding the open end under, and sewing them on the vest, reinforced with an X.

Attach the lining to the outer front and back leaving the shoulders and bottom of the back open. Click all the curves.

Turn the vest right side out. Fold in the back shoulder the width of your seam allowance, tuck in the front shoulder, press, and blind stitch closed. Blind stitch the bottom of the vest closed.

Go have some fun with your new vest!!

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and that you'll come visit me at Elegance & Elephants for more info on when you'll see other how-tos from this look (including the hat).

I love vests on little boys! Great tutorial. I made my little man a few vests this spring, and used a shirt as the starting point. I made it a little different with the satin lining as the back (i.e. 2 layers on the front and 1 layer on the back) and shaping darts.

This is insanely adorable! I wouldn't have thought to use a shirt as a pattern... *forehead slap*... and now I can't wait to make my little guys some of these vests. Thank you for sharing this neat tute!

So cute. I'm drafting out the pieces now for my little man's willy wonka costume :) I have a question- does the back need to be sewn from two pieces? What about just cutting 1 piece for the whole back (and then another for the lining)?

Thanks for the tutorial- I was going to have to do this from my head which never turns out pretty, so this is perfect timing!

This is so cute I can't stand it. I'm making my little man a Willy Wonka costume...perfect timing. I thought I was going to have to do this from my head, which never turns out pretty, so thank you so much!

I'm drafting the pieces out now... and I have a question- does the back piece need to be sewn together from 2 pieces? Looks like I could just cut 1 piece (and another for the lining), no? It would be the story of my life to assume that I could, and realize a huge error after I've cut. Thanks in advance!